Open Shut Them has become a favorite warm-up song for my children’s English classes (ESL, EFL). It is fun, simple, and has plenty of actions. More below the video!
How to Teach
I start out teaching this song by doing the actions of opening and shutting my hands as you can watch in the video. Then I teach clap and the body parts in the song: head, knees, and nose.
Next, I slowly go through the actions and lyrics of the song with my students. At first, go slow and you do not have to force your students to sing along. They will sing when ready. From the beginning, encourage your students to do the actions. Full lyrics below!
Open Shut Them Lyrics
Here we go!
Open shut them, open shut them
Give a little clap, clap, clap
Open shut them, open shut them
Put them on your head
Open shut them, open shut them
Give a little clap, clap, clap
Open shut them, open shut them
Put them on your knees
Open shut them, open shut them
Give a little clap, clap, clap
Open shut them, open shut them
Put them on your nose
One more time, faster!
Oh boy! Here we go!
Open shut them, open shut them
Give a little clap, clap, clap
Open shut them, open shut them
Put them on your head
Open shut them, open shut them
Give a little clap, clap, clap
Open shut them, open shut them
Put them on your knees
Open shut them, open shut them
Give a little clap, clap, clap
Open shut them, open shut them
Put them on your nose
Great Job!
Listen to Open Shut Them
You can use the above YouTube video in your classes, or stream Open Shut them on the following services:
Stream Open Shut Them:
Spotify
Apple Music
Amazon Music
Search Dream English Kids on any of these streaming services to find the song!
I hope this is helpful. Give it a try in your classes. Happy Singing!